14

"Rubbish!"

Not for once William believed that it should have been Kevin who sent him to Hell. Why should he do so? And foremost: Kevin was an angel. He despised demons and any time advised him to avoid contact with them.

"You mean an angel send William to Hell?", Isaak interrupted his train of thoughts. His friend looked horribly amazed by the turn of events William noticed. The boy was on the verge of saying something more. This would mean another ongoing discussion the blonde was not willing to lead. So he set off to keep it short, hurriedly and loudly addressing Sitri: "Okay, let's presume he asked you to hijack us- which I in no way believe – explain one thing: Why should he do so?"

He looked at Sitri sternly, irritated, impatient. The pretty demon blinked back, then closed his eyes for a moment, shrug his shoulders and blatantly stated: "I don't know."

Now that caught William off-guard.

"What the- What do you mean you don't know?", he sputtered.

"He didn't tell me."

"And you didn't ask?"

"Nope."

"He just said 'Take William down to Hell'?!"

"Indeed."

"And you just did."

"Jup."

"Like Hell I'm gonna believe that!"

William was exasperated. That demon wasn't even trying to make up a convincing cover-story for his actions! He could freak out! But if he lost his temper Sitri would make use of it by conjuring up more and more diversions for him to prevent him from actually forcing him to bring them home. Closing his eyes and raising his hands to treat his aching temples he tried to calm down and work out a clue to trick Sitri into submission. He wondered how Solomon had managed to submit the demons to his will. According to Matthers magic was the key, but wasn't Sitri bound by a contract? Wasn't he obliged to serve him? Not as long as he can stop me from uttering definite instructions, he concluded. So the trick was to place an order that Sitri must follow through, which meant two things: He had to formulate it cautiously and he had to manage to say it out loud. Unfortunately, Sitri was absolutely aware of these details as well, so he had to confuse him enough to break his attention. Maybe if he forced him to elaborate the story further. Most of the time Sitri appeared indifferent or bored, surely he wouldn't like to have to think the thing through intently. Hopefully.

Reopening his eyes William started to set his plan in motion. Much calmer he interrogated: "When did he ask you?"

"Directly after you returned from church.", Sitri answered. "But 'ask' doesn't cover it. He rather demanded."

William furrowed his brows. Okay...

"And he 'demanded' of you to not bring me back until sunrise of the first Christmas-day."

The demon nodded.

"You were okay with being bossed around by an angel?" Sitri was a proud demon, this remark should anger him. Strangely, though, he stayed completely balanced, telling him: "We made a deal."

Huh? Instead of throwing Sitri off balance, it was William who was getting pulled into the story now.

"What deal?", he wanted to know.

Sitri, meanwhile, strode over to the canapé, sat down and made himself comfortable with a cushion in his back. It almost looked as if he tried to gain time to decide how much to reveal. Intrigued, William pushed on: "What's in it for you? What did he promise you?"

And why did he go to such lengths?, he added to himself. No matter how he put it, he couldn't picture a situation in which Kevin would approve of him visiting this dimension.

"A trade between devil and angel? Is this even legal?", Isaak, who had seated himself next to Sitri, blurted out. "Aren't you supposed to hate each other to the core?"

Sitri stared at him blankly.

"But when you think about it for a moment", the optimistic red-head continued, "Most of you demons have been angels before. Aah! I got it!" The boy clapped his hands. "You and Mr. Cecil are old friends!"

Both, William and Sitri, erupted in laughter simultaneously, causing Isaak to pout.

"What?! It could totally be! Don't laugh at me! You're mean!"

They took their time to recompose themselves before William recalled not having get an answer out of the other. His facial expression returned to sincere he focused those bright blue eyes, his own green ones boring into them. "So, come on now, spit it out! What did you receive in return for your 'favour'?"

If he told William that he needed training this would equal admitting inferiority to his rivals. If he did so he could directly quit the competition for Hell's sake! Yet, William did not specifically ask him to answer truthfully... Sitri chewed at his lower lip. Should he lie? It was a bit of a risk. If the blonde ever found out, he might lose his trust. But the throne was at stake. He sighed.

Made up his mind he turned around, just in case William wanted to search his eyes for reliability, and dug around between the pillows. Naturally the teen watched him wearily. Blonde brows raised in disbelief as the demon protruded a package of chocolate-chip-cookies.

"You took me hostage for a handful of cookies?! This- ... you-... Unbelievable!" William shook his head. But then again- what did he expect? It was Sitri after all. And maybe - just maybe - it was better to be in the hands of a sweets-maniac than in those of a power-thirsty devil who took him for political reasons.

Isaak snug a cookie from Sitri.

"Hmmm! Those are really delicious!", he hummed after biting into it. Sitri simply smiled, glad that the cover worked.

"But we still don't know why we should go here.", Isaak chewed on. William nodded. Kevin's demeanour was odd these last few days in general. His hand instinctively searched the wooden cross his butler had presented him with, accompanied by those confusing words. He said it would protect me... Protect... Protect! Of course!

The only possible reason to send William beneath the earth was to get him out of reach of... of... someone from Heaven? The time when Edward Eden had been possessed by an angel popped up in his mind. If he remembered right, it had been Michael? What if another angel descended to kill him? But would Kevin know about it? Doubts he used to burry deep beneath his study-work rose up to the surface of his consciousness. Thoughts he did not want to pursue.

Did Kevin know about another angel being after him and didn't tell him? Had he known back when Michael was after him? Would he have let him kill him if he knew? And what were Kevin's orders, anyway? Assuming, of course, that he worked under orders. All he told was that he was on the lookout for a successor of the ring. After he found him, what were his plans? Was he, too, set to take his soul to Heaven? And if so, why hadn't he done so until now? There had been plenty opportunities. And, assuming he had been ordered to kill him, and he refused, what did that mean for the angel?

Geez, his head throbbed! Too many questions, too few answers.

Nonetheless, he shared his idea of Kevin trying to get him out of some unknown danger with his kidnapper and his friend. Immediately Sitri's face contorted in worry.

"An advance of Heaven? At this time of the year?", he murmured. "This would be bad." Albeit, it didn't make sense to the demon. Wasn't it Uriel's task to win William over for Heaven? He, too, remembered the incident with Michael, who had come to Stradford to obtain Solomon's soul. Was there a struggle among the angels for the heir's soul? No, unlikely, Sitri concluded. Michael would not have to compete, he'd just order Uriel to hand over his target. But if Uriel had already been ordered to, why did Michael bother to descend? Matters had never been as complicated before William!

"It cannot be any other, can it?", aforementioned interrupted his reflections. He shook his head. "Then that means there's an angel after me, again."

"Presumably.", he nodded.

Isaak listened silently, torn between awe and worry.

Suddenly William grabbed the demon's shoulders to secure himself the full attention of Sitri as well as grounding himself when a concerning thought struck him.

"You told me about rivalries in Heaven once.", he began. "Is Kevin in danger?"

Sitri was unprepared for the amount of emotion luring behind William's words. He felt the need to comfort his master and friend, yet did not want to lie to him. So he merely replied: "It is possible that he'll get punished for letting you escape after you discovered his true identity." Something the demons had long since been wondering about anyway. Seeing William's eyes grow wide he hurriedly went on: "But it is unlikely. Heaven worships Christmas. They avoid bloodshed on holy days."

Isaak came to his help: "Maybe they just want to check up on him?"

Listening to those sentences, something within William told him that they were wrong. He simply felt that, whatever caused Kevin to become as edgy as he had been lately, was definitely not a lapidar check-up. It was somehow dangerous. He had to get back! He had to make sure his butler was alright.

Needless to mention that Sitri was absolutely against it, now more than ever. He wanted to keep him safe. They argued long precious minutes about it. Minutes in which the possibility of being responsible for Kevin being hurt rapidly ate away at William's temper. Their voices rouse until they screamed at each other, each one anxious to assure a loved one's safety. Isaak watched them helplessly until he could no longer bear it.

"Stop it!", he shouted, and to his surprise the two fell silent, their attention on him now. He felt his ears grow hot, his face burning red in embarrassment, but fought down the urge to excuse. Instead he stuttered:

"What if Sitri takes a look at Mr. Cecil?"

Silence.

"W-well, you see... we'll wait here securely and Sitri can sneak back and in case of danger return fast through a portal ..."

Whilst Sitri, Isaak and William pursued their debate, two small shadows flitted over the flowers gracing the garden of the western king. They scurried up and down the walls, searching for the window that'd show them the elector. Unfortunately the chamber of Baalberith's beloved doll did not feature any windows. His puppet was his to look at, only his. And he was all his nephew should look at, like a good servant.

Anyhow, before the spies could even so much as guess that their researched window did not exist they were detected by the premise's guards and had to flee. Their master would not be pleased with them.